Modi Tells India’s Hindu Heartland He’s Doing God’s Work

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi speaks to supporters after his landslide victory in elections in Vadodara, India on May 16, 2014. Photographer: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Incoming Indian leader Narendra Modi
told thousands of supporters in one of Hinduism’s holiest cities
that he represented a break from past governments after winning
the nation’s biggest electoral mandate in 30 years.

“There’s a lot of work that god has put me on this earth
for,” Modi said yesterday on the banks of the Ganges River in
Varanasi, his constituency, after attending a prayer service at
a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction
and transformation. “A lot of it is dirty work, but I am up to
the task.”

Thousands of people threw rose petals at Modi’s convoy as
it made its way through the streets of Varanasi, with onlookers
and security officials taking pictures. Earlier, Modi greeted
supporters in New Delhi, where his Bharatiya Janata Party said
it would nominate him formally for prime minister this week.

The outcome, which saw Modi trounce the Gandhi dynasty,
boosted stocks and the rupee as investors bet a stable
government would make changes needed to bolster growth in the
world’s largest democracy. While Modi’s opponents accused him of
inflaming tensions between Hindus and a Muslim minority that
stem from the country’s founding in 1947, on the campaign trail
he pledged to revive Asia’s third-biggest economy.

“People want growth, people want jobs, people want low
inflation and people want less corruption,” said S. Narayan, a
visiting senior research fellow at the National University of
Singapore. “That’s the message from this mandate.”

Landslide Win

On the bank of the Ganges, Modi and other BJP leaders
performed a ceremony called “aarti,” the final ritual of a
Hindu prayer that is conducted as a reminder that god is at the
center of life. Modi softly clapped his hands while listening to
Hindu hymns on a stage decorated with marigold garlands.

Modi, who had sacred sandalwood paste smeared on his
forehead, referred to the river as “Mother Ganges,” which
Hindus consider holy. The devout believe bathing in the Ganges
cleanses sins.

Modi returned to New Delhi last night and today held
meetings with BJP leaders in the capital, the Press Trust of
India reported, without saying where it got the information. The
Election Commission of India will submit a list of the newly
elected members of parliament to the president at 6.30 p.m., PTI
reported separately, citing Venu Rajamony, a presidential
spokesman.

The BJP and its allies won 336 of 543 seats up for grabs,
more than the 272 needed for a majority, Election Commission
data showed. The Congress group won 59 seats, the worst
performance for the party that has governed India for most of
its history. Smaller regional parties took 148 seats.

‘Pretty Badly’

The BJP itself won 282 seats, the biggest victory for a
single party since Congress got 404 seats in 1984 in the wake of
Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The BJP-led bloc received 37
percent of 551 million ballots cast, compared with 23 percent
for the Congress group and 40 percent for smaller regional
parties, vote tallies show.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a farewell address
yesterday, wished Modi success and called on the nation to
respect the results. Singh resigned shortly after, capping a 10-year run as India’s prime minister, the third-longest tenure in
the country’s history.

Rahul Gandhi, the son, grandson and great grandson of
Indian prime ministers, took responsibility for the defeat.

“Congress party has done pretty badly,” Gandhi, 43, said
May 16 in New Delhi as he stood alongside his mother, Sonia
Gandhi, the party president. “There is a lot for us to think
about.”

Rupee Gains

The strong mandate spurred optimism that India would lead a
recovery among the biggest emerging markets. During the
campaign, the BJP lambasted Congress for jobless growth,
promising in its manifesto to stem Asia’s second-fastest price
gains and expedite foreign investment in most sectors except for
multibrand retail.

Modi’s power in parliament won’t be unchecked. While the
BJP and its allies will have a majority in the lower house, they
have only 61 of the 245 members in the upper house, where seats
are distributed based on the strength of parties in state
assemblies. The upper house must approve major legislation
related to tax, foreign investment and constitutional changes.

India’s rupee surged past 59 per dollar on May 16 for the
first time since July, while the S&P BSE Sensex increased 0.9
percent to a record after swinging between a gain of 6.15
percent and a loss of 0.1 percent.

Democracy Maturing

Modi, the son of a tea seller, is favored by business
leaders because of his record in Gujarat, the state he’s
governed since 2001, which has attracted companies such as Tata
Motors Ltd. The state’s per capita income nearly quadrupled
during Modi’s tenure to 61,220 rupees ($1,040), rising at a
faster pace than the national average.

Opponents of Modi have said he’ll stoke violence between
Hindus and Muslims, which has played a defining role in politics
since independence. Modi has been accused of failing to stop
riots in Gujarat 12 years ago that killed more than 1,000
people, mostly Muslims, and had prompted the U.S. to deny him a
visa.

He has repeatedly denied the accusations and a Supreme
Court-appointed panel found no evidence he gave orders that
prevented assistance from reaching those being attacked.

Modi’s bloc won 71 of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, India’s
most populous state which has more Muslims than any other,
breaking the hold of local parties based on caste, a millennia-old social hierarchy in India rooted in Hinduism. The BJP won
only 10 seats in the state in the 2009 election.

“The mandate signals the maturing of India’s democracy,”
said D.G.A. Khan, who teaches political science at the Banaras
Hindu University in Uttar Pradesh. “Voters have backed the
message of development instead of the caste preferences and
parties who have exploited it for years.”